Waterproofing of masonry walls



Jan. 11, 1955 R. w. EHRENBERG WATERPROOFING 0F MASONRY WALLS Filed Aug. 29, 1950 INVEN TOR.

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United States Patent WATERPROOFING OF MASONRY WALLS Raymond W. Ehrenberg, Larchmont, N. Y., assignor to Brisk Waterproofing Co., Inc., New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application August 29, 1950, Serial No. 182,089

Claims. (Cl. 72127) The present invention relates to the waterproofing of masonry walls, and is more particularly directed toward waterproofing masonry walls having brick facings and backings formed of less expensive block.

In order to obtain the advantages of lower-cost construction, it is desirable to use on the inner part of the wall block made of cement, cinders, terra cotta, or the like. These blocks are made in standard sizes, such as, 4x8xl6inches,8x8x16inchesand12x8x16 inches. They are made in standardized machinery which provides weight-reducing openings extending vertically through the block from top to bottom to lighten the block, while the solid, substantially smooth vertical walls of the block provide the necessary load-bearing strength and inner wall surface.

It is possible to use alternate wide and narrow courses of block of selected sizes for the inner face of the wall and header and stretcher courses of brick to provide the outer facing and construct a wall of adequate structural strength. Standard block available make it possible to build 12-inch walls or 16-inch walls.

When the walls, however, are built of such block and the usual brick, the walls are not watertight. Any water which would leak through the brick facing could pass back into the wall and run down through the openings in the porous block and/or be absorbed by the block so that the inner surface of the wall could not be kept dry. The present invention provides an arrangement whereby much less expensive, but structurally satisfactory, block may be employed in a wall and the wall completely waterproofed.

In laying up a wall with alternate wide and narrow courses of block, the outer-upper part of the wide block forms a shelf or seating surface in which the weightreducing openings provide holes. According to the present invention, the holes in this seating surface are covered by stretcher courses of brick (or suitable material of the same dimension) so as to provide an imperforate seat above the level of the top of the wide block. The waterproofing material is placed on this imperforate seat and passes up through the joint in front of the narrow block and down through the joint in front of the seat-forming course, the front of the wide block and in front of a stretcher course underneath the wider block. The brick facing is then placed in front of the waterproofing member, this brick facing including a series of stretcher courses and header courses, with interspersed snap-header courses if desired, the header courses having their inner ends resting on the portion of the waterproofing member which was on the imperforate seat above referred to.

The accompanying drawings show, for purposes of illustrating the present invention, three embodiments in which the invention may take form, it being understood that the drawings are illustrative of the invention rather than limiting the same.

In these drawings:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a l2-inch masonry wall showing the lower portion of it completed, and the upper portion partly completed with parts broken away to show interior construction;

Figure 2 is a perspective view similar to Figure 1, illustrating a 16-inch wall;

Figure 3 is a view similar to Figure 1, illustrating an 8-inch wall wherein the wide block are shallower than the narrow block; and

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Figure 4 is a perspective view of the rear surface of the wall of Figure 3.

In Figure 1, wide cement or cinder blocks or terra cotta blocks are indicated at 10, and similar narrow blocks are indicated at 11. These blocks may be the standard 8 x 8 x 16-inch and 4 x 8 x 16-inch blocks, and provided with the usual vertical holes as indicated at 10' and 11', respectively.

In Figure 1, the outer face of the wall is shown as having header courses 12 separated by five stretcher courses 13. The header courses 12 are opposite the middle of the narrow block 11, and the spaces between the inner ends of the header course brick 12 and the next lower and the next higher wide block 10 are occupied by interior stretcher courses 14 and 15. These interior courses would usually be brick, but any suitable filler could be used. The interior stretcher courses 14 cover the upper front portions of the openings 10' in the wide block, and provide an imperforate seating indicated more clearly at S, Figure 1.

In laying up the wall, the back part of the wall, including the wide and narrow block and the interior stretcher courses, are placed as indicated in the upper part of Figure 1, joints being provided with the usual mortar M. This provides the imperforate horizontal seat S below the exposed surface 11a of narrow block 11 and above the exposed vertical surface 14a of stretcher course 15, 10a of wide block 10, and 15a of interior stretcher course 15. This lower vertical surface extends down to the top of the header course 12.

In this manner, the construction of the wall provides a stepped joint adapted to receive the waterproofing elements 20 of Z-shaped configuration. These Waterproofing elements may be the same as those shown in Larson Patent No. 2,088,754, August 31, 1937. The stretcher courses 13 are then placed on top of the header course 12 to the height such that the next header course may be laid with its inner end on top of the horizontal mid-portion of the Z-shaped waterproofing element. Thus, the longer vertical leg 21 of the waterproofing element occupies a vertical joint extending from the top of one header course to the bottom of the other header course. The horizontal portion 22 of the waterproofing element extends over the seat or shelf provided by stretcher course 14, and the narrow vertical portion 23 extends up past the inner end of the header brick and past the interior stretcher course 15 so as toprevent any water which may leak into the wall and seep down to the header brick from passing to the block behind the header brick.

The arrangement above described makes it possible to use the standard wide and narrow block as backing material and insert the waterproofing elements without any danger of puncturing them during the erection of the masonry as would be the case if one were to attempt to place a horizontal portion of the waterproofing material directly on top of the wide block. An unobserved opening or puncture would permit leakage and require repair or rebuilding of the wall.

Figure 2 shows a l6-inch wall made up in the same manner as the 12-inch Wall of Figure 1. Here, the narrow block 30 may be the 8 x 8 x 16-inch block while the wide block 31 is 12 x 8 x 16-inch block. These block have vertical openings as indicated in 30' and 31. The inner stretcher courses 14 and 15 are the same as before, and the face of the wall is made up of header courses 12, stretcher courses 13, and a snap header course 12a. Waterproofing member 20 is placed in the wall in the same manner as above described.

Walls such as shown in Figures 1 and 2 present on the inner face mortar joints which are regularly spaced because of the use of blocks all of which are 8 inches high.

In the arrangement shown in Figures 3 and 4, the wide blocks 40 are 8 x 5 x 16 inches. The narrow blocks 41 are the same as the block 11. The inner stretcher courses 14 and 15 are the same as before, but instead of having five stretcher courses between the header courses, the shallower block 40 provides room for but four stretcher courses 13 between the header courses 12. The waterproofing member 42 is the same as the waterproofing member 20 except for having a shorter long leg because the header courses are closer together.

The type of wall shown in Figures 3 and 4 makes it possible to provide an inner block surface such as shown in Figure 4, wherein the horizontal mortar joints 43 are alternately closely and widely spaced. This produces an ashlar effect, and such a wall has a less monotonous appearance in the absence of a plaster coating or other covering, than the wall with the regular uniform spacing of mortar joints of constructions shown with Figures 1 and 2.

Since it is obvious that the invention may be embodied in other forms and constructions within the scope of the claims, I wish it to be understood that the particular forms portion of the width of a brick, an upper vertical portion 7 of a height corresponding to the height of a plurality of brick courses and a lower vertical portion of a depth corresponding to the depth of a plurality of brick courses, a plurality of relatively wide porous blocks laid in horizontal rows and provided with vertical weight-reducing holes, and a plurality of relatively narrow porous blocks with vertical weight-reducing holes, the narrow blocks being laid on the wide blocks in horizontal rows to produce vertical water drainage passages from one row of blocks down through the next lower row, the inner faces of the blocks being in a common vertical plane and the holes in the wide blocks extending outwardly beyond the outer faces of the narrow blocks, certain of the bricks being laid on top of the wide blocks in front of the narrow blocks to cover the front portions of the holes in said wide blocks and provide a continuous seat against which the horizontal portions of the waterproofing elements are placed, the remaining bricks being laid to form a facing, including stretcher courses in front of the lower portions of the waterproofing elements, and header courses above the mid-portion of the waterproofing elements and the uppermost stretcher courses.

2. A masonry wall such as claimed in claim 1, wherein the wide blocks and the narrow blocks are three brick courses high so that the facing has five stretcher courses between the header courses, and the inner surface of the wall has uniformly-spaced, horizontal mortar joints.

3. A masonry wall such as claimed in claim 1, wherein the wide blocks are of the vertical height of two brick courses and the narrow blocks are of the vertical height of three brick courses whereby the facing has four stretcher courses between the header courses, and the inner surface of the wall has alternately closely and widely-spaced mortar joints.

4. A block-backed, brick-faced masonry wall of uniform thickness throughout, wherein the blocks are in alternate courses of wide and narrow blocks, and have vertical weight-reducing openings in communication with one another to produce water drainage passages, and the brick are in header and stretcher courses, there being an interior stretcher brick course between each header and the courses of wide blocks above and below the same, a series of waterproofing elements extending from the top of each header course past the interior courses, over the top of the interior course which partly covers the top of the course of wide blocks and upwardly past the next header course and interior course, and mortar occupying the brick-to-brick, block-to-block and brick-to-block joints to hold the wall together.

5. A waterproofed exterior building wall comprising an outer brick facing normally exposed to the weather and formed of superposed header and stretcher courses of brick, an inner backing formed of alternate courses of wide and narrow blocks measured horizontally, the wide blocks having vertical weight-reducing openings, and being located opposite certain stretcher courses of brick, the narrow blocks being behind the header courses of brick and of the height of three course of brick and having vertical weight-reducing openings in communication with those of the wide blocks to produce water drainage passages, interior courses of brick disposed above the tops of the wide blocks in front of the narrow blocks to partially cover the openings in the wide blocks and form an imperforate seat, additional interior courses of brick between the tops of the header courses and bottoms of the next higher, wider blocks, a series of waterproofing elements each of which extends upwardly from the midportion of each header course past the next higher wide block and the adjacent inner stretcher course rearwardly over the seat and upwardly behind the next header course and the inner stretcher course on top of the same, whereby water entering the facing is prevented from reaching the inner block backing, and mortar occupying the brickto-brick, block-to-block and brick-to-block joints to hold the wall together.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,234,990 Wilson July 31, 1917 2,085,618 Walsh June 29, 1937 2,088,754 Larson Aug. 3, 1937 OTHER REFERENCES Page 15 of Concrete of June 1940.

Page 215 of Tile Engineering, by Plummer and Wanner, published by Structural Clay Prod. Inst., Washington, D. C. Copyright 1947. 

